


A Moment In Time

by Chocobofever



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 07:05:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3968937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocobofever/pseuds/Chocobofever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small glimpse into the lives of Harry and Tom after the former decides to go back in time to adopt the latter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Moment In Time

**Harry watched the child sitting on the swing, quietly, boredly, lacking the love of life associated with children usually. Tom was no better at pretending to be normal than he was, and it was becoming ridiculously apparent to Harry why the boy had spent his whole life being singled out, by other children and by Dumbledore, in the future Harry was trying to prevent.**

**"You don't want to play?" asked Harry.**

**"No."**

**"You'll be shunned if you don't at least pretend to," warned Harry.**

**"I don't care about the other children. Just buy me an interesting book and I'll be satisfied," said Tom, frustration coloring his small, pre-teen voice. "Or buy me a pet if you must. Something useful, like an owl. Or a snake."**

**"Snakes aren't very useful," hedged Harry.**

**"They're very good for pranks and I like them. But I would still prefer the book."**

**Harry winced. He didn't think getting Tom a snake sounded like a very good idea (he hadn't forgotten what Tom had used the basilisk for) and a book sounded so boring...**

**"I'm buying you an owl," decided Harry. "It will keep you company and teach you things about being responsible."**

**Tom raised an eyebrow slowly. The look he sent Harry was rather impressive on the face of an eight year old. "If that's your way of saying I'm in charge of cleaning the cage, forget it. I would rather let the owl suffocate on its own droppings."**

**Harry sucked in a horrified gasp. TOM ACTUALLY DIDN'T.  
**

**"Don't worry, I'll clean the cage since I can actually vanish the litter without vanishing the owl. But ohhhh, wait. That's not a problem for you yet, is it? Since you can't vanish the owl OR the litter," said Harry mockingly.  
**

**"I'm eight," said Tom sharply.**

**"By your age I'd already vanished lots of owls and lots of litters," lied Harry.**

**"I'm eight, but not an idiot," said Tom, tone dripping of poisonous substances, almost as fatal as the look sent Harry's way. Harry was pretty sure his charge had been a basilisk in an earlier life.**

**"Could have fooled me. You do realize you were making death threats to an owl, don't you?" said Harry. He shouldn't, perhaps, be egging Tom on so much, but damn if his comment about the owl hadn't stung.**

**"I was trying to mess with your head! Only you... You're crazy! Unhinged! You do realize I don't want anything to do with you? That I would rather see you dead than continue with this... This charade! Go die already, Harry. I don't want anything to do with you!" said Tom, standing up from the swing and clenching his fists by his sides in anger.**

**"I'm afraid I don't do dead very well," said Harry. Tom obviously did not understand half of the meaning held in the statement, his scowl deepening. "And our life is hardly a charade. You're my charge and I'm getting you a pet. Yay, happy family and all that."**

**"We're not family," said Tom loathingly.**

**"I beg to differ," said Harry, voice suddenly serious and as unyielding as steel. "Unlike SOMEONE, I'm actually old enough to view the family registry and it clearly states that you're mine. Er, my son. And no, I never asked for your opinion on the matter and no, I don't intend to do so, so you might as well stop giving me the evil eye. You're stuck with me, Tom."**

**"You're crazy!" repeated Tom, a new light to his eyes. Was that... Fear?**

**Alarmed by his finding and most definitely not wanting to be that person, Harry let the angry energy drain out of him. "I'll have you know that the lady at the orphanage, I forget what her name was, she thought I would be an EXCELLENT parental figure for you," he said, hoping to play it for a joke.**

**Tom, not quite sure how to take his words, remained quiet.**

**"She could hardly contain her excitement when I expressed an interest to adopt," continued Harry, and finally Tom seemed to find a subject he could grasp on to.**

**"She must have been amazed that someone was willing to take me in," the boy muttered.**

**"Or I might have charmed her the moment I walked inside, but those are the nastier details of life that are better left ignored. Hey, you know what? There's this place called Diagon Alley not far off, we could buy that snowy white owl while we're at it. I would really like a snowy white one."**

**"You're so obvious it's disgusting," said Tom, but he sounded tired, far from the outright anomosity that he had been spitting earlier.**

**"Great!" said Harry, jumping up from where he'd been sitting on the edge of the sandbox, then waiting patiently as his eight year old son carefully brushed himself off. Harry didn't bother looking down at his own clothes. "You ready?"**

**"Yes," said Tom, his voice dropping further on the annoyance scale until he sounded almost neutral. That is, until Harry held out his hand to be taken, at which point the look in Tom's eyes dropped to absolutely frigid readings in zero point six seconds. "I'm EIGHT," he said.**

**"You're so suspicious it's endearing," said Harry honestly. "But I'm actually about to apparate us and need bodily contact to side-along. That's, er, taking someone with."**

**Tom's stance relaxed. "Magic?" he asked. A curious light appeared in his cobalt orbs and Harry wondered if that wasn't the look all first years had when they saw Hogwarts for the first time.**

**Yes, this was much better. THIS was why he'd risked so much to travel back in time and to take Vol- Er, Tom under his wing. For no matter how much of a monster Voldemort had been, Tom was only a child. Things could change still, Harry thought, and even if they wouldn't at least he could give one more child the childhood they deserved.**

**And, well... Harry had never spoken to Ron about it, but he'd always been kind of jealous of the relationship the redhead had with his older brothers. "Yes. Or we could simply stand here and hold hands. Your choice."**

**"No! Apparate us, IMMEDIATELY," commanded Tom in a pompous, perhaps a touch horrified, voice that would have put an adult Voldemort to shame.**

**Pity. Harry had never held an adult's hand and wouldn't have minded the experience of holding Tom's. Not that he had expected anything but a refusal, mind you, Tom was just too predictable in some aspects. Harry nevertheless gave an exaggeratedly disappointed sigh before holding out his hand and Tom caught on to it just a little bit too quickly for the action to come off as casual. But hey, no family started off as perfect.**

**Before the child could utter a protest Harry had already yanked him closer, against his chest, before letting his magic reign free for a moment. Side-alonging wasn't usually difficult, but he didn't want to take any chances with the passenger in his arms, especially seeing as in this time his magic was constantly tugging in a certain direction. Harry didn't know what would happen if he let himself follow the tugging, but he wasn't about to try. The future, past, whatever, could wait.**

**In a flash of light, they disappeared.**


End file.
